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No one cares about nuclear power once it’s in space.  Only on it’s way to space.

Radioactive Contamination

Nuclear power in space comes from an RTG (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator).  The RTG is powered by a radioactive isotope.  The isotope decays and produces heat in its decay.  That heat produces electricity through the use of thermocouples.

For space harware, the main threat from an RTG is that explosive destruction of the hardware containing the radioactive material would spread radioactive material.  The RTG containers are designed to survive this type of event so the odds of contamination are small.

What happens when the container is destroyed…

If the container were to break up the estimated odds of contamination are 1 in 10.  The alpha radiation that the most common RTG fuel cannot penetrate the skin but if it were inhaled it would do serious damage to internal organs.

There were protests when Cassini launched…

People were scared that if the Cassini launch failed then the radioactive fuel would find its way into the atmosphere and people would inhale it.  While this shouldn’t be taken lightly the launches are generally conducted over the ocean.  The winds in the atmosphere may disperse the radioactive material.

Obviously if the launch vehicle travels through all of the atmosphere it is unlikely that we can wait for a launch window where all of the prevailing winds are blowing out to sea.  This dispersion shouldn’t be taken lightly but understand that the fuel most US satellites use is only a problem when inhaled or ingested.  If the particles fall in the sea or on the land then it poses no threat - to people.